El Corte Inglés

El Corte Inglés, S.A.

Type	Sociedad Anónima
Industry	Retailing
Founded	1940
Founder(s)	Ramón Areces
Headquarters	Madrid, Spain
Key people	Isidoro Álvarez (CEO)
Revenue	€15.9 billion (2006)
Subsidiaries	Hipercor Bricor Supercor Opencor Viajes El Corte Inglés Informática El Corte Inglés
Website	elcorteingles.es

El Corte Inglés head office

El Corte Inglés S.A. (English: The English Cut as in tailor's cut), headquartered in Madrid,^[1] is the biggest department store group in Europe and ranks fourth worldwide.^[2] El Corte Inglés is Spain's only remaining department store chain, as well as owner of several associated businesses, such as:

• Hipercor - hypermarkets
• Supercor and OpenCor - supermarkets
• Bricor - Home and DIY chain
• Sfera - Fashion chain
• Viajes El Corte Ingles - Travel agency
• Telecor - Telecommunications
• Informatica El Corte Ingles - Business IT services
• Centro de Seguros, Correduría de Seguros and Grupo de Seguros El Corte Ingles - Insurance and financial services
• Editorial Centro de Estudios Ramón Areces - Educational publishing

History

In 1934, founder Ramón Areces bought a tailor shop (which had opened in 1890) located on one of Madrid's most central streets, calle Preciados, and made it into a limited company. In 1940 he turned the shop into the current corporation El Corte Inglés, S.A. On the death of Areces in 1989, his nephew Isidoro Álvarez was named his successor and quickly became one of the most powerful men in Spain. In 1995 El Corte Inglés bought out its only serious competitor, Galerías Preciados, which had entered bankruptcy.

El Corte Inglés Portuguese flagship store in Lisbon.

Stores tend to be very large in size and offer a wide range of products: stores may sell music, movies, portable & household electronics, furniture, hardware, books, clothes, groceries, gourmet food, cars and even real estate.

International expansion began in 2001 in Portugal, with a store in Lisbon, followed in 2006 with a store in Vila Nova de Gaia, opposite the city of Porto, and a third store is planned. In the same year the company announced expansion outside the Iberian Peninsula: Italy was to be the first country to host a store but, owing to the crisis, the plan was suspended.

Madrid flagship store

El Corte Inglés in Vigo

The primary flagship store for the chain is located in Madrid at 79, Raimundo Fernández Villaverde Street. It encompasses several buildings and carries the most comprehensive collection of designers of any large store in Spain. Designer boutiques in this store include: Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Armani, Gucci, Loewe, Bulgari, Dior, Dior Homme, Georges Rech, Hugo Boss, Boss Woman, Ermenegildo Zegna, Burberry (men/women), Façonnable, Pal Zileri, Paul & Shark, Lacoste, Pavillon Christofle, CH by Carolina Herrera, Escada Sport, James Purdey and Sons, Lloyd's, Purificación Garcia, Caroll Paris, Amitie, Episode, store brands (Emidio Tucci, Dustin) and many others. Also included is a branch of the Madrid based Aldeo jewelers, carrying such jewellery designers as Boucheron, Blancpain, and Hamilton.

2007 Results

For the fiscal year ending February 28, 2008, group revenue grew 5.1% to €17.8 billion. Net profit was up 5.1%, to €747.6 million.

See also

	Spain portal
	Companies portal

• European Retail Round Table

External links

• El Corte Inglés online store (Spanish)
  • Corporate information
  • Corporate information (Spanish)
• Informática El Corte Inglés (Consulting & IT services) (Spanish)
• El Corte Inglés history (Spanish)

References

1. ^ "Home." El Corte Inglés Corporate. Retrieved on December 17, 2010. "El Corte Inglés, S.A. Hermosilla, 112. 28009 Madrid."
2. ^ DGAP-Media: JAXX subsidiary Serviapuestas signs exclusive deal with Europe's largest retail group El Corte Inglés